Hebrews 9:14 NIV How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Scientists are always looking for cures to diseases. In 1929, Alexander Fleming discovered a fungus that killed bacteria. That discovery led to the development of the antibiotic, penicillin. It was not until the 1940ís during WWII that the antibiotic was able to be produced into a commercial antibiotic. The drug became a major cure of many infectious diseases, and is still used today.

In 1954 Jonas Salk invented the vaccine for poliomyelitis. There are three strains of the polio virus. The vaccine has been very successful in helping eliminate almost all of the polio in the world. However, the vaccine is not a cure for polio. Actually there is no cure. Treatments help offset the affects of disease. The body fights off the disease like all viruses. There is a prevention, but there is no cure.

Today we still are seeking cures for diseases. HIV, cancer, pest born diseases like West Nile virus, Lou Gehrigís diseaseĖ all are diseases we are seeking cures for. Every now and then, God gives us grace to discover a breakthrough to a disease. Other diseases seem to evade a cure.

Sin is a human disease. It is a disease of the soul. You might say it is a disease that gets under our skin. Sin is a disease which has infected all of us and for which there is no human cure. No mater how much we try to make ourselves better, no matter how many times we resolve to make changes, we find that we are powerless to change ourselves. Our story is written on the pages of human history as well as in the history of Israel in the Bible. Although we know what is right, we have become corrupted and are not able to break the habit of our sins.

C. S. Lewis wrote a childrenís series called The Chronicles of Narnia. I recommend every father buy the series and read them to their children. I used to read the series at bedtime to my son. It took many months, but it was a wonderful experience for him and myself. In The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis tells the themes of Christ, sin and redemption through the characters of children who wander through the magical world of Narnia. Through one of these stories, Lewis helps us see how powerless we are to change the nature of sin within us. I want to tell you about Eustace and the dragonís skin.

1. We cannot remove the dragonís skin.There is no human cure for sin.

In The Chronicles of Narnia, several young children represent Christians in a world of dragons, elves, unicorns, and many other mythical creatures. One of the children is a young boy named Eustace. Eustace is a very selfish boy. He always tries to see life for how it best benefits him. What he often discovers is that selfishness more often fills him with more unhappiness than joy. In the book,